At Week's End

Capsules Of Commentary On Events In The News

February 25, 1995

SAY NO TO GUNS

Four Peninsula legislators deserve recognition for taking a stand against a bad bill that the House of Delegates passed this week. The bill will make it easier for individuals to obtain a permit to carry a concealed weapon. And the house rushed to pass it with a vote of 69-29. Gov. George Allen is expected to sign the bill.

The next time you walk through a shopping mall and wonder how many people have a handgun tucked out of sight, don't blame these four.

NEW AGE OF HEROES

In the end, the witnesses did the right thing. They showed up and testified in court against two thugs accused of shooting into a group of people on a Newport News street last August.

We once took such acts of civic responsibility for granted. People who witnessed a crime were expected to testify in court. Now such an appearance is sometimes an act of heroism. Criminals and their associates threaten witnesses. Too often, cases are dismissed because witnesses are afraid to appear in court.

There has been a communitywide effort in Newport News' Southeast Community to overcome such intimidation. This week it worked when witnesses testified against Nathaniel Dunlap and Damion L. Pruden.

FIGHTING CRIME

A new survey of the nation's police chiefs and sheriffs finds that significant percentages of them don't believe the death penalty and gun control are effective means of fighting crime. Those surveyed would prefer to see more effort put into fighting drug use.

We disagree. Imposition of the death penalty, which the chiefs say they support philosophically, punishes perpetrators of the worst of crimes and is a recognition that a lifetime prison sentence is not a harsh enough penalty in some instances. As for gun control, good laws should make it harder for criminals to get guns and should ensure that people who profess to be good citizens are properly trained and licensed to use firearms. As we have said, the concealed-weapons law that passed the General Assembly this year does not meet that definition of a good gun control measure.

Fighting drug use is commendable but requires an approach - educational and economic measures to help get people out of poverty - that transcends law enforcement.

A FORCE FOR PROGRESS

Among the forces that helped integrate society in the 1950s and '60s was popular music. White artists such as Elvis Presley and the Beatles exposed white young people to black music, even with what some people would say were sanitized renditions of music from Chuck Berry and Little Richard.

By the 1960s soul music by black performers came into a widespread acceptability among many young people. The Motown Sound, popularized by the Supremes, the Four Tops and the Temptations, became hugely popular. The death this week of Melvin Franklin, the Temptations' bass singer during their heyday, is bound to have the tunes of their glory days swirling in heads across the country - tunes such as "My Girl" and "Just My Imagination."

SAVE THE WOODS

A bill to save the wooded preserve on the College of William and Mary campus known as the College Woods received overwhelming support in the General Assembly - 132 of the 140 members of the two houses voted for it.

That level of support should send a message to Gov. George Allen that some things are more important than money. Allen wants to sell surplus state land to help pay for prison construction, but there is nothing surplus about the College Woods. They are, without doubt, an irreplaceable asset.

Allen should sign the bill. He can look elsewhere for money.

A BETTER BRIDGE-TUNNEL

Re: Construction to begin June 1 on parallel span for Chesapeake Bay Bridge-Tunnel.

What's appealing about this project is that it is getting under way to meet future demand before congestion gets to be overwhelming. Some road projects are completed only after years of traffic tie-ups and by the time a new road is built, it barely alleviates the congestion.

The failure to include parallel tunnels in the project is an acceptable tradeoff to get the new bridges built quickly and relatively inexpensively. When the new lanes are in place, giving the crossing two in each direction, fewer head-on collisions will occur because the two flows of traffic are mostly separated. Accidents, breakdowns and maintenance will disrupt traffic in only one direction, rather than both, and the addition of pullover lanes on the existing bridges and shoulders on the new ones will mean fewer disruptions.

AIDS STRIKES AGAIN

Greg Louganis, the greatest diver in Olympic history, has AIDS. He is the latest addition to a growing list of athletes sickened or killed by this horrible disease. Others include: